What are the advantages of offering adolescent exploratory therapy (AET) in preparing adolescents to engage in psychotherapy?

Objectives: This study seeks to explore the views and perspectives of Adolescent Psychotherapists offering Adolescent Exploratory Therapy (AET) and Adolescent Psychotherapy to adolescents in their in-house services at the Brent Centre for Young People (BCYP). The study aims at researching participants’ understandings and views on the aspects of AET that facilitated or hindered adolescents’ transition to long term Adolescent Psychotherapy. Methods: 8 adolescent psychotherapists were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a constructionist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2014). Results: Therapists discussed how they conceptualized adolescence as experiencing a loss of control and agency. They discussed a psychoanalytically informed frame that allowed them to engage adolescents and empowered them to gain insight into their difficulties, which in turn promoted the therapeutic alliance between adolescents and therapists and stimulated adolescents’ commitment to seeking further help in the form of psychotherapy. Conclusion: The findings stress how adolescents can find it difficult to seek help with adults as this threatens their individuation-separation process and agency. Conversely, some adolescents are too frightened to engage with the development process coming stuck in their development. AET is designed to take into account some of the developmental difficulties adolescents have in engaging in psychodynamic oriented therapy. In addition, AET aims at forming a therapeutic alliance with the adolescent from the very beginning of treatment. Furthermore, AET is designed to foster the development of agency and insight into young people’s psychological difficulties and need for further help in the form of psychotherapy while maximizing the young person’s sense of agency. Further larger-scale research on AET from adolescent patients’ perspectives is recommended.